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Mariners sign Kensing, Pina to Minors deals

Right-hander, catcher will have opportunity with big league club at spring camp

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By Greg Johns
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MLB.com |

SEATTLE -- Right-hander Logan Kensing, who pitched 108 games as a reliever for the Marlins from 2004-09, and catcher Manny Pina have signed Minor League contracts with the Mariners with an invitation to Major League camp, the club announced Friday.

Kensing, 31, pitched two-thirds of an inning with the Rockies last year in his lone Major League appearance since being sidelined all of 2010 following a pair of shoulder surgeries. He's pitched at the Triple-A level with the Yankees, Pirates and Rockies over the past three seasons.

Kensing was a second-round Draft pick of the Marlins in 2003 out of Texas A&M and made his Major League debut as a 21-year-old in '04. He went 8-9 with a 5.23 ERA in 133 innings over 108 appearances with the Marlins over the next six seasons, including three starts.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Texas native pitched 26 games for the Nationals in 2009, when he was 1-1 with an 8.68 ERA in 28 innings before shoulder problems sidelined him for more than a year.

Kensing posted his best Minor League season last year with a 3.05 ERA in 44 relief appearances for Colorado Springs, the Rockies' top affiliate, with 37 hits, 41 strikeouts and 22 walks in 44 1/3 innings.

Pina, 26, has split his professional career in the Rangers' and Royals' organizations. He played five Major League games with the Royals in 2011 and '12, going 3-for-16 (.188) with two doubles in his brief stints.

Pina spent last season with Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha in the Royals' system, hitting a combined .228 with seven home runs and 38 RBIs. He threw out 32 of 79 attempted basestealers (40.5 percent).

The 6-foot, 215-pound Venezuelan was originally with the Rangers as a non-drafted free agent in 2004.

Pina gives the Mariners added depth at catcher, where they've also recently signed veteran free agent John Buck to a Major League deal and Humberto Quintero to a Minor League contract with a Spring Training invitation.